Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Hot Italian Beef

I know what you are thinking and yes, I am being lewd. This is a recipe for a hot sandwich, that tastes sinfully delicious. It's juicy, warm, filling and as good as the tender meat is, I feel the veggies are even better.

Don't you just want to eat the monitor or phone or other device that you might be using? Damn, I just put that in my belly and I am still salivating. Okay here is how you make it.

Start off by heating olive oil in a heavy, oven safe pot over medium high heat. I chose my favorite kitchen purchase of all time, Les Creuset. Generously salt and pepper your roast, for this recipe I chose a chuck because it has decent marbling and its cheap. There is really no reason to worry about the fat since the method used to cook the meat is a slow heat that pulls out most of the fat.

Add your beef to the pot and sear each side until golden brown. Note, when using cast iron, enameled cast iron or stainless cookware, your meat will stick to the pan until it has formed this crust as shown above. Just be patient and let your tools do the work for you. When the crust has formed the meat will release from the pan.

While your meat is doing its thing, chop celery into crescents. Cut onion and bell pepper into slices and mince garlic. Leave the basil leaves whole. Once the meat has seared on both sides add water, worcestershire sauce, vegetables and Italian seasonings.

Bring up to a boil, cover with lid and place in an oven preheated to 325 degrees for one hour, reduce heat to 250 and continue cooking for another 2 hours. Add more water if the meat is less than half way covered. Cook longer if the meat doesn't pull apart easily with a fork, because it should.

Pull apart meat into chunks and serve on a hoagy bun. I like to let the juices soak into the bread before eating it.

Ingredients

3lb chuck roast beef

2 TBSP olive oil

2 cups water

1 package of Italian salad dressing mix

2 TBSP worchestershire sauce

One 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, Italian

Pepperoncini and Jalapenos, as many as you like about 6 or 8 each

1 green bell pepper

2 celery stocks

half an onion

20ish fresh basil leaves

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 325. Heat oil in heavy oven safe pot over medium-high heat. Add salt and peppered beef to pan. Sear on each side until golden brown. Add water, chopped veggies, seasonings and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in oven. Bake for 1 hour, reduce heat to 250 and continue to cook for another 2 hours. Serve over hoagy buns.

*this recipe easily converts to a crock pot recipe for all you busy house makers. Just brown the roast then add all ingredients to crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.